Abacus Capital, Big Cypress Capital, an SB360 Affiliate, and Stockbridge Acquires Two Midcentury Warehouses, Announces Plans to Redevelop Into The Switch Yard, a Trophy Adaptive Reuse Creative Office Project

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina – September 16, 2020 – Abacus Capital (“Abacus”), along with its partners Big Cypress Capital (“Big Cypress”), an SB360 affiliate, and Stockbridge, are pleased to announce the strategic acquisition of 925 and 1001 Tuckaseegee Road, a pair of legacy midcentury warehouse assets totaling over 80,000 SF in the heart of FreeMoreWest’s Freight District in Charlotte, NC.

In conjunction with closing the transaction, Abacus and its partners are pleased to announce the launch of the Switch Yard – a 92,000 SF trophy-quality Class AA creative office redevelopment project that will raise the bar for adaptive reuse office development in the Charlotte market.

Located on 3.8 acres at the topographical apex of the Freight District, one of Charlotte’s fastest growing infill commercial neighborhoods, the redeveloped Switch Yard project will offer its tenants unrivaled views of downtown Charlotte’s iconic skyline.

Abacus and its partners acquired the legacy warehouse assets in a pair of simultaneous formation transactions totaling over $9.1M, well below both replacement cost and underlying land value. Upon eventual stabilization of the Switch Yard, the partnership will have invested over $30M in positioning Switch Yard as the Charlotte market’s premier post-pandemic office destination for the market’s burgeoning creative class of office users.

“The fact that we were able to execute on this acquisition during a very challenging transactional environment is a testament to the quality of the team we assembled around this opportunity and our partnership’s collective conviction around the Freight District micro-location, creative office as the preferred office product type in the post-pandemic world and the future of Charlotte as a uniquely positioned growth market,” said Wes McAdams, managing partner of Abacus Capital.

Less than a mile from both Charlotte’s CBD and its dynamic South End submarket, the Switch Yard will benefit from direct accessibility to downtown Charlotte via Tuckaseegee Road (which becomes 4th Street) as well as its close proximity to the city’s primary regional transit arterials I-277, I-77 and I-85.

“A core tenet of Abacus Capital’s investment philosophy is a tactical orientation away from commodity spaces and places – the functionality and authenticity of the space that we will be curating and delivering at the Switch Yard should be another great example of this strategic objective brought to life,” McAdams noted.

The Switch Yard will be the Freight District’s first structure-parked office asset and will be competitively differentiated by its cutting edge architectural design, a captive above-market parking ratio, the ability to accommodate tenants from 6,000-60,000 SF as well as its elevated outdoor tenant amenity spaces that have been designed to maximize tenants’ sight lines to the city’s skyline.

Abacus and its partners plan to grow the building’s rentable area from the current 80,000 SF to over 92,000 SF by constructing a two-story glass “jewel-box” annex along the front of the 1001 Tuckaseegee building, which will create a dramatic streetscape that will differentiate the Switch Yard as the developers introduce the project to the market. Pandemic-responsive building features are being planned to further separate the Switch Yard from other legacy creative office assets in the market such as individual private tenant entrances and restrooms, contactless fixtures, enhanced outdoor air circulation and next-generation HVAC systems.

CBRE’s office leasing team led by Joe Franco and Kris Westmoreland will be leasing the project on behalf of Abacus and its partners while Foundry Commercial will be property managing the asset going forward. Redline Design is the architect of record on the Switch Yard while the McAdams Company will be providing the civil engineering services on behalf of Abacus.

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About Abacus Capital – Abacus Capital is a multi-strategy tactical real estate opportunity investor focused on the acquisition and development of differentiated commercial real estate in growth markets across the southeastern United States. Abacus’ mission is to identify investment opportunities that we believe offer our investors the most compelling risk-adjusted returns in dynamic capital markets environments. The principals of Abacus Capital have over 25 years of real estate investing experience and have acquired or developed 17.0M square feet of commercial real estate with a total capitalization in excess of $3.1B.

About Big Cypress Capital – Based in Naples, FL, Big Cypress Capital, an SB360 affiliate, is an emerging investment management firm. Big Cypress Capital’s Headwaters Strategic Operator Platform focuses on cultivating capital partnerships with real estate operators and institutional JV partners that result in long-term value creation within their platforms. Please visit bigcypresscap.com for more information.

About Stockbridge – Stockbridge is a private equity real estate investment management firm led by veteran industry professionals. The firm’s portfolio comprises assets across the investment risk spectrum, including core, value-added and opportunistic strategies. Stockbridge and its affiliates have approximately $24.9 billion of assets under management (as of September 30, 2021) spanning all major real estate property types and certain specialty property types throughout the United States. For more information, visit www.stockbridge.com